Chapter 209: A Century-Old Dream

"The rebels' intention is clear: to concentrate their main forces to hold Storm's End and wait for reinforcements sent from Volantis."

Arthur pointed to Storm's End on the north side of Shipbreaker Bay, then pointed to Feng Nu Jiao on the south side of Shipbreaker Bay.

"But it is now late autumn, and the storms of the Narrow Sea are not what the Volantene captains, accustomed to sailing the Summer Sea, are familiar with. Furthermore, arriving directly at Storm's End requires crossing the notorious Shipbreaker Bay, so even if the Volantene vanguard fleet arrives to support young Aegon, their landing point will only be in the vicinity of the Yulin."

Feng Nu Jiao is a large peninsula extending from the Stormlands into the Narrow Sea, bordering Shipbreaker Bay to the north and the Dorne Sea to the south, facing Estermont across the sea.

A knight named Bruce Buckler cleverly flattered the King: "Your Majesty is right; we must both defeat the rebel Golden Company and intercept any potential reinforcements."

Mathis Rowan agreed with this, "Since we have reinforcements from Dorne, why not send some to Feng Nu Jiao to recover the castles while also cutting off the Golden Company's route of retreat to the south."

This was also a reasonable suggestion. Faced with nearly two to three times their own numbers, even the battle-hardened Golden Company had little hope of victory, so besides holding Storm's End, young Aegon and the Golden Company supporting him could also develop to the south.

The land to the south of Feng Nu Jiao is flat, and with its rainy climate and fertile soil, there are plenty of food reserves in the lordly castles and villages.

The northern part of the peninsula is a forest called the "Yulin," which is most suitable for guerrilla-style warfare; if the Golden Company were to escape there, dealing with them would be even more troublesome.

"You are right, so I have decided to send you to command a detachment of Dornish reinforcements."

Arthur pointed to the location of Nightsong, "There is a Dornish army of about five thousand men there, and its commander is the High Hermitage knight Gerold Dayne. I do not trust him, so you are to take over command, then lead this army to attack in the direction of the Yulin. While recovering the various castles, capture any members of the slaver bands, hang the leaders of the slaver bands, and keep the rest, waiting to be exiled to Castle Black."

The Dornish vanguard moved north from near the Prince's Pass, then lingered there under the pretext of capturing Nightsong.

Arthur guessed that the Darkstar Gerold Dayne might want to preserve the power he controlled to stir up trouble once the situation became clear.

One must know that this Darkstar is even more poisonous than the Red Viper; Prince Oberyn had always wanted to kill Gerold Dayne but could never find a reason.

And Mathis Rowan had once wept for the tragic death of Rhaegar's son, and he himself was relatively loyal to the silver-haired, purple-eyed Targaryens. It was uncertain if he might change sides because of Arthur's hair and eye color, so he was sent to the south.

The Lord of Goldengrove had no objections to this, but appropriately expressed his own doubts:

"Your Majesty, I absolutely obey your orders. But I am a Reachman, and this is a Dornish army; is it not a bit inappropriate for me to command them?"

The Dornishmen and the Reachmen have been mortal enemies for a thousand years, so they indeed do not get along well.

Arthur smiled slightly and called out a Dornishwoman.

"Nymeria Sand."

This was Prince Oberyn's second bastard daughter, known as Lady Nym, who had always followed her cousin Arianne Martell.

Coincidentally, her mother was a noblewoman from the Black City of Volantis.

Arthur pointed to this Sand Snake and said to Mathis: "Lady Nymeria is the second daughter of Prince Oberyn. Her status among the Dornish is not low, and she can represent Princess Arianne. After you go, if any Dornishmen do not obey your orders, you can have Lady Nymeria issue orders in the name of Princess Arianne. Anyone who does not obey shall be treated as violating the orders of their liege lord; those who should be imprisoned shall be imprisoned, and those who should be hanged shall be hanged."

Mathis's ability was sufficient to command an army of five thousand, and a Sand Snake could also improve the execution capability of the Dornish soldiers; such a pairing was most appropriate.

After the arrangements were finished, Arthur directly ordered Mathis to take his personal guard and Nymeria Sand to pack up and depart.

Their route was to start from near Bronzegate, enter the Dornish Marches via the boundary between the Kingswood and the Red Mountains, and arrive at Nightsong along the north side of the Marches.

After sending Mathis away, Arthur I began to formally issue orders to this army.

"There are basically no hiding places at the end of the Kingsroad, and it is not easy for the enemy to ambush us. So we will march rapidly, clearing out small groups of the Golden Company along the way, and then camp a few leagues north of Storm's End."

It was basically impossible to take Storm's End by force; seventeen years ago, sixty thousand men from the Reach could not do it, and with the thirty-plus thousand men about to arrive, it could not be done either.

But besieging without attacking was still possible, and Arthur had some clever methods he could utilize.

The King's orders were executed relatively completely in the long-rested military camp.

It took over an hour for the nobles and knights to mount their horses and head south. The conscripts and logistics servants were busy loading tents onto ox carts and handcarts; they departed later, but their arrival time at tonight's camp would be about the same as the knight lords, otherwise, they would likely be rewarded with a whipping.

The Stormlands, Storm's End.

This is one of the strongest castles in the Seven Kingdoms. The castle is surrounded by heavy outer walls; the thickest part of the wall is about one hundred feet high and forty feet thick, and the side facing the sea is about eighty feet thick. The wall is composed of two layers of stone and a middle layer of sand and rubble, and the stones are so tightly packed that not even a sliver of wind can get in.

The castle itself is a massive tower with sturdy battlements on top, making it look from a distance like a giant fist with spikes thrusting into the sky, defying the enemy.

On the spacious ground on both sides of the Kingsroad north of Storm's End, a military camp that was three parts chaotic and seven parts orderly was experiencing a small commotion.

A messenger had just galloped out from inside the giant castle, straight to the central command tent of the camp outside the city, and then officers of all ranks in the entire camp were summoned to listen to orders.

Moro Jeyn, a high-ranking officer of the Golden Company with brown skin and a pale beard, was temporarily in charge of the camp outside the city after Captain Harry Strickland led some of the infantry into Storm's End.

"Captain Harry orders all food to be moved into the castle, and the knights are to take their attendants to the various castles in the south to supervise the transport of grain."

"Sir Axell Florent, you lead the soldiers from Brightwater Keep to build trebuchets. Sir Rolland Caron, you take your soldiers to cut down all the trees nearby; do not leave a single bit for our enemies."

"The remaining soldiers are to move our supplies and tents into the castle; Storm's End is large enough to accommodate our small number of people without any problem."

Although he did not know what decisions the power-holders in the castle had made, based on the orders received, it was not difficult for Moro Jeyn to conclude that Captain Harry wanted to hold Storm's End.

The low-ranking officers who received the orders walked out of the tents one after another to execute them, but Moro Jeyn stopped four officers who were also following the crowd out:

"Sir Axell Florent, Sir Benedict Belmore, Sir Dick Cole, Sir Franklyn Flowers, His Majesty and the Captain have summoned us into the city to attend a military council."

By convention, the Golden Company's military council only involved the captain, the vice-captains, and the highest-ranking senior officers, usually only nine people.

Moro Jeyn also could not figure out how those invited to participate in the military council this time were determined, but the number of people was indeed larger than before.

The five knights took their personal guards through the camp, which was immediately becoming chaotic, entered the North Gate of Storm's End, and then, led by guards, entered the lord's hall of this super-large castle.

"Attack to the north; our soldiers outnumber the enemy attacking from any direction, and we can completely defeat them one by one, just as we did in the Disputed Lands in the past." As soon as they entered the door, a loud voice reached Moro Jeyn's ears.

The hall, which could accommodate hundreds of people, currently had only seven or eight people, and even with the five who arrived later, the hall still appeared incomparably empty.

Moro Jeyn and the others walked for quite a while before reaching the long table near the main seat.

The person speaking was named Tristan Rivers, and according to what Moro knew, this person was famous for his short temper.

And based on his red hair and the surname Rivers, Tristan was likely a bastard of some lordly family of Harrenhal.

Captain Harry Strickland vetoed this proposal, "According to reports from scouts, the number of that army in the north is quite a bit more than ten thousand, at least between fifteen thousand and twenty thousand. We cannot defeat them quickly; at most, we can manage to rout them. And while we move north, the other two armies of the false king Arthur will capture the castles in the southern Stormlands, and even Storm's End might be lost."

"Aegon Targaryen," sitting in the main seat, also opposed this military adventure to the north: "Our loyal ally, Illyrio Mopatis, has already gained the support of Volantis. Malacho Megar of the Tiger Party has already sent a fairly large fleet to support us; holding Storm's End is a more appropriate choice."

In fact, he did not know how much aid Illyrio had obtained from the Volantenes, but to stabilize the morale of the army, young Aegon told a lie.

"Yes," Harry Strickland nodded, "For over a hundred years, we have been wandering in foreign lands. Eighty-eight years ago, Sir Bittersteel founded the Golden Company so that we would not be scattered. We have endured over a hundred years of hardship; now that the time has come to set foot on our homeland, can we not endure for a little longer?"

In the year 212 of the Conquest Era, the Second Blackfyre Rebellion occurred, and the Golden Company was founded by the loyal rebel Sir Bittersteel.

Since the First Blackfyre Rebellion in 196, the families of the Golden Company's main officers were exiled to Essos. In the three hundred years—one hundred and four years—since then, four generations have taken the baton one after another, just to be able to return home.

Moro Jeyn secretly agreed with the Captain's statement; although Harry Strickland looked like a brute without strategy, those who knew him all knew that this fourth captain, who had risen from the position of paymaster, was definitely the most intelligent captain the Golden Company had ever had.

Before doing anything, the homeless Ha Li would take every possible favorable condition into account and map out what he considered to be the most foolproof plan.

This is also the reason why Ha Li, who does not possess high combat strength, is able to firmly hold his position as the commander of this mercenary company of over ten thousand men.

Tristan Rivers looked indignant, "We have tried to hatch the Dragon Egg several times and failed; it seems we won't be able to hatch a dragon before the great war. As a brave warrior, I shouldn't just be guarding an egg. Please adjust my duties, or at least let me participate in the battle personally."

It looked like he was requesting to fight, but in reality, Tristan Rivers was trying to escape that priceless "gem."

If he stayed with the Dragon Egg any longer, Tristan felt he would surely find a way to steal it and betray the comrades-in-arms he had fought alongside for five years.

"I would never question your courage in fighting for His Majesty Aegon and for the Golden Company, but the Dragon Egg is His Majesty's most important possession; only with a warrior like Ser Tristan guarding the Dragon Egg can I be at ease."

Ha Li praised Tristan Rivers with great emotion, then had him continue to guard the Dragon Egg along with two other high-ranking officers.

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